Alf Clausen fired from The Simpsons

[Alex 2,833]

I bet 100% HZ “delegated” his composing  work to a handful of his minions when scoring the movie.

 

I wonder if that “disturbed” Al Jean as well.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Al Jean's a dickhead anyway. Ever heard the guy's voice? Sounds like a dork.

[Alex 2,833]

This guy is definitely based on him

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Hehehe

[gkgyver 1,645]

12.000 per episode? A rough 250.000 per season? 

Jesus, for such a high profile show, that's absolutely terrible. 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

12 hours ago, crumbs said:

It's obvious Zimmer's clone factory just undercut Clausen and they looked for an excuse to get rid of him and save costs (all while the voice actor fees continue to blow out year on year; eventually something's gotta give).

That would be a very scummy, homewrecker move on Bleeding Fingers' part. Of course, there's no evidence that it's true though.

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Zimmer's company maneuvers other composers from their existing roles?

[Alex 2,833]

“Aw, Alf, you’ve done a lot of great things, but you’re a very old man now, and old people are useless.”

 

 

[crumbs 14,300]

13 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

That would be a very scummy, homewrecker move on Bleeding Fingers' part. Of course, there's no evidence that it's true though.

 

Yeah, guess it's just a coincidence how their company has taken over various productions formerly handled by other composers, ranging from The Simpsons to reality TV (Survivor) to BBC documentaries (Attenborough event series).

 

It's how their business operates. They approach production companies and networks, offer to undercut the existing music team, then distribute the work to a team of ghostwriters. Sometimes they'll negotiate an extra fee for Zimmer's name on the posters, for marketing purposes (when he probably spends all of ten minutes writing a theme then delegates the rest).

 

Their posturing is even less subtle when it comes to film music, shamelessly so with Bond 25.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

There's a catastrophic issue in entertainment at the moment where composers are being left high and dry in the midst of a rapidly changing industry. Films being edited up until the last second, streaming services are weaselling out of paying royalties and any legislation that was designed to protect composers in the past is long redundant. It's hard enough to get a gig composing for anything these days, but between the shady business practices brought in by music production houses and the complete lack of a decent revenue stream through royalties we'll be better off throwing in the towel and learning how to code instead.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

It never hurts to be able to stand on more than one leg. HanZ started out as a programmer, and one could say he still does it.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Of course, which is why I've been teaching alongside composing my entire career. I'm one of the lucky ones - the issue is an entire generation of composers who have no fallback and have been operating in their field for the last 30 years with steady work and income, only for it to be suddenly turned upside down in the past few years. We're seeing studios and streaming services actively winding back revenue for composers that they once had a legal right to. All because we live in "unprecedented" times and copyright lawmakers are too slow on the uptake.

 

It's the same in the wider music industry. An artist once could count on selling their music to make ends meet but with Spotify paying out a whopping $0.00318USD per listen those days are long gone.

 

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

HanZ started out as a programmer, and one could say he still does it.

 

Hans is also responsible for streamlining music production in film and television by using underpaid ghostwriters who aren't credited for their work (and in turn aren't eligible for the few royalties that are still available), all in the name of some far-flung promise of a future career. I could go on for hours about how today's hustle-obsessed gig economy burns out talented and dedicated workers while promising a lifestyle that is either completely unsustainable or impossible to achieve in the first place.

[TSMefford 1,509]

59 minutes ago, Docteur Qui said:

Of course, which is why I've been teaching alongside composing my entire career. I'm one of the lucky ones - the issue is an entire generation of composers who have no fallback and have been operating in their field for the last 30 years with steady work and income, only for it to be suddenly turned upside down in the past few years. We're seeing studios and streaming services actively winding back revenue for composers that they once had a legal right to. All because we live in "unprecedented" times and copyright lawmakers are too slow on the uptake.

 

It's the same in the wider music industry. An artist once could count on selling their music to make ends meet but with Spotify paying out a whopping $0.00318USD per listen those days are long gone.

 

 

Hans is also responsible for streamlining music production in film and television by using underpaid ghostwriters who aren't credited for their work (and in turn aren't eligible for the few royalties that are still available), all in the name of some far-flung promise of a future career. I could go on for hours about how today's hustle-obsessed gig economy burns out talented and dedicated workers while promising a lifestyle that is either completely unsustainable or impossible to achieve in the first place.

 

Yeaaaah. There's a lot changing these days. I'm also a lucky one in that my main gag isn't composing, but I sure do love doing it. Would never be able to live off it though.

 

Sigh. That's all I can really express. It's things like this that make me not want to even attempt to enter the big leagues (not that I'd be good enough to get in anyway). I'm perfectly content doing my small scoring projects over dealing with that kind of crap.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Why is computer programming touted as the be-all and end-all desirable skill these days? Don't you have to be like really smart to do that? And won't there be so many programmers, they won't have enough positions to fill?

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

@TSMefford I like to look at it from a sideways perspective - that is, working with people in your own sphere that are at a similar level that you enjoy collaborating with. I was once obsessed with the idea of moving to LA (I'm from Australia) and working my way up the ladder with overpriced graduate degrees and underpaid internships in the hopes of somehow getting into the big leagues. I've seen past the artifice of that life though, but more importantly I'm fortunate enough to be working with my best friends on a TV show that's airing here in Oz later this year. We started making silly projects years ago and have made the progression together. We're not interested in being famous or making the next big thing (though that would be a nice bonus) - we just want to be able to make a living off this. It's possible, but only when you start to dismantle the myth that all successful people are 100% productive at all times and always hustling. Or that success itself is only measured by creating a phenomenon on the level of Star Wars of Harry Potter.

 

13 minutes ago, Þekþiþm said:

Why is computer programming touted as the be-all and end-all desirable skill these days? Don't you have to be like really smart to do that? And won't there be so many programmers, they won't have enough positions to fill?

 

I don't think you have to be exceptionally smart. But it's a language, and learning any language takes time but also has immense value in numerous industries. The applications of coding intersect every single industry on earth, because we're all on devices all the time. It's not just programmers, but designers, composers, marketing people, public servants, educators etc etc. As the world turns more automated there will eventually be more jobs that require coding than cleaning or driving or pulling boxes around warehouses.

[Richard Penna 3,669]

Every device/system, or 'thing' in the world that uses a computer has had to be coded in some way. That's a lot of code to write.

 

I'm a software engineer, and I'm constantly being told by my project managers that it's difficult to recruit new people in this field.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

15 minutes ago, Þekþiþm said:

Why is computer programming touted as the be-all and end-all desirable skill these days? Don't you have to be like really smart to do that? And won't there be so many programmers, they won't have enough positions to fill?

 

Programmers are modern-day slaves.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It all looks like Greek to me. I wouldn't know how to retain information in "coding". I'd rather fix kookoo clocks or something.

[TSMefford 1,509]

2 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

@TSMefford I like to look at it from a sideways perspective - that is, working with people in your own sphere that are at a similar level that you enjoy collaborating with. I was once obsessed with the idea of moving to LA (I'm from Australia) and working my way up the ladder with overpriced graduate degrees and underpaid internships in the hopes of somehow getting into the big leagues. I've seen past the artifice of that life though, but more importantly I'm fortunate enough to be working with my best friends on a TV show that's airing here in Oz later this year. We started making silly projects years ago and have made the progression together. We're not interested in being famous or making the next big thing (though that would be a nice bonus) - we just want to be able to make a living off this. It's possible, but only when you start to dismantle the myth that all successful people are 100% productive at all times and always hustling. Or that success itself is only measured by creating a phenomenon on the level of Star Wars of Harry Potter.

 

Great points. I used to have a group like that and had to relocate. I do miss working with people in that way. Maybe eventually I'll get back out there with projects like that.

[Bayesian 1,359]

17 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

Hans is also responsible for streamlining music production in film and television by using underpaid ghostwriters who aren't credited for their work (and in turn aren't eligible for the few royalties that are still available), all in the name of some far-flung promise of a future career. I could go on for hours about how today's hustle-obsessed gig economy burns out talented and dedicated workers while promising a lifestyle that is either completely unsustainable or impossible to achieve in the first place.

Perhaps a topic for another thread, but I’d like to hear more about this; how the Hollywood composing industry became so precarious. In many corners of the gig world, the companies/entities dangling the carrot of future success are the 800-lb gorillas that benefit from the race-to-the-bottom mentality that forces workers to accept inferior pay or 70-hr workweeks to prove their worth or their commitment to their career. Composers would seem to be different to me, not least because they’re represented by unions in an entertainment industry where unions seem highly influential.
 

That composers are struggling like you say is disconcerting. Who is to blame for this? The studios? Surely it can’t all be RCP. 
 

Btw, if Hans really is as responsible for commodifying the composer’s art as you suggest (and making composers after him pay the professional price), he should be ashamed of himself.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

This coding thing might not be the magic ticket out of unemployment that laymen like to tout it.

 

https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/10/please-dont-learn-to-code/

[Alex 2,833]

https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/alf-clausen-simpsons-fired-lawsuit-tossed-1234747928/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

I'm one of those eccentric prodigies who prefers Aqua Teen Hunger Force.